Redefine advantage in Customer Experience

Redefine advantage in Customer Experience

Transforming transactions into seamless customer experiences

Introduction

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Payments: At the heart of the Customer Experience revolution

No business can afford to ignore customer experience. Although there is nothing new in being customer-centric, the digital revolution and the rise of mobile commerce have transformed the marketplace and created new demands and opportunities. Customer experience is where businesses will win or lose in the digital age.

David Gebhardt

Managing Director, Payments, Barclaycard

The omnichannel experience

Payments are playing a key part in this transformation. No longer simple transactions, they are being shaped by a wide range of converging technologies as well as the impact of open banking. The focus is now increasingly on removing customer pain points and offering a more streamlined and rewarding payment experience across all channels. Not only does this mean greater speed and convenience at checkout, whether online or in-store, it also means better security and the creation of value-added payment services.

Thanks to technology, every point in the payment journey is an opportunity to build stronger customer relationships. Millennials, and now Generation Z, are important demographics in this change. As digital natives, they live a connected, mobile life and today's payments must meet these frictionless expectations, while also satisfying regulatory requirements such as PSD2 and strong customer authentication (SCA).

Introduction

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A secure and seamless success

This whitepaper explores the developments in payments that are revolutionising customer experience, and how payment providers are building end-to-end systems that combine new and emerging technologies to achieve the ultimate contactless and omnichannel experience. To succeed in the modern commercial world, payments must be more than just swift and secure; they must be integrated and delivered when, where and how customers want.

Omnichannel is the foundation for the new payments landscape, and smartphones are at the creative centre. In parallel, we are seeing the growth of invisible and instant payments,

as well as exciting advances in biometrics, machine learning, data analytics and a host of other developments that will impact payment journeys. Innovation is everywhere, from Amazon Go to Barclaycard initiatives such as Grab+Go and Dine & Dash.

It's a fast-changing and highly competitive field. Businesses must invest in the right technologies to stay ahead of the curve and ensure their payment infrastructures not only meet basic processing needs, but also provide the versatility and insights to deliver an even better service. That's why it's vital to work with a payment partner who can look beyond the transaction level ? a provider who understands payments at every level and knows how, and where, to redefine advantage to create the best possible customer experience.

Section 1 ? Customer Experience

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Section 1

Creating a seamless CX

Building omnichannel transactions

Multichannel and omnichannel may sound like two sides of the same coin, but it's important to differentiate the two. While both involve selling across multiple channels and platforms, the key difference is customer experience (CX), and how the concept is applied across both approaches.

Multichannel refers to siloed channels, such as bricks and mortar stores and online platforms, which operate independently of one another and which organisations use to sell to consumers. On the other hand, omnichannel signifies a unified, seamless operation between multiple touchpoints ? a fusing of the shopping experience across all channels.

This seamless shopping experience ranks high for UK consumers who value convenience (26%) above price (24%) as a primary influencer when it comes to making purchases on brand websites1.

The customer journey, of which payments plays a huge role, is no longer the linear procession ? awarenessconsideration-purchase ? it used to be. Nowadays, the journey represents a maze with numerous twists and turns, with multiple repeat visits and retracing of steps across interactions with online shopping carts, card readers, contactless payments, digital wallets and keyed transactions. Building an omnichannel solution means being able to take payments where, when and how your customers want ? with security assured.

1 Big Commerce | 2018 Omnichannel Report grow.rs/695-JJT-333/images/report-2018-omnichannel-buying.pdf

Section 1 ? Customer Experience

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Another advantage that an omnichannel solution brings is that it can provide your business with important insights into customer behaviour, sales and market trends. This knowledge and data can be used to further enhance the customer experience.

This increase in smartphone usage has led to the smoothing of the path to purchase3 as people use their phones and other connected devices as part of the buying process ? omnichannel in action.

Combining convenience, flexibility, security and value-added services, omnichannel provides the strongest foundation for a customer experience strategy that goes beyond simple transactions.

The path to purchase

Payment solutions should be viewed as strategic decisions to drive differentiation.

Technology has improved the payment journey with the proliferation of smartphones and other `smart' wearables giving consumers all kinds of tools they need to complete transactions quickly, securely and on the move. The number of UK smartphone users is rising steadily and by 2022 is predicted to reach 54 million, an increase of over 12 million new users since 20152.

Add to this the growing variety and versatility of today's payment technologies and it's clear businesses need to look at their payment solution as more than just a business decision. Viewed through a customer experience lens, the choices businesses make about their payment solutions should be viewed as strategic decisions to drive differentiation.

Section 1 ? Customer Experience

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22% of businesses say that they don't have anybody responsible for CX.

Barclaycard survey of British businesses, 2019.

Personalising the customer experience

Using payment innovation to solve customer pain points is a key part of this experience evolution. When considering how to disrupt the taxi industry, Uber didn't start thinking about how customers can pay via an app ? they looked at it first from a customer experience point of view. How could they improve the experience of ordering and using a taxi, an experience which historically has so many clunky pain points? It's about understanding the evolving consumer, their expectations, needs and challenges, and reacting appropriately.

One expectation which needs particular focus is the concept of personalisation, a notion which has increased in relevance due to technology.

Consumers are very demanding and solutions should therefore always be tailored to audiences. This is evidenced by the staggering growth of subscription boxes, an industry that is flourishing because of the consumer desire for personalised products delivered in a highly engaging way.

According to a report from Royal Mail, the value of the subscription box market is predicted to be worth ?1billion by 2022 ? a rise of 72% from ?583 million in 2017. Some 27% of UK customers have already signed up to a subscription box service, with 40% of consumers saying they will join a subscription scheme in the future.4

The same thought applies to online-only subscription services such as Netflix, a platform which offers easy-to-access subscription and tailored content for each and every consumer.

4 Essential Retail | Analysis The rise of subscription boxes analysis/rise-of-subscription-boxes/

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